Cloaked
by Everywhere Yet Nowhere
Summary: .:One shot, Yuffentine:. Evacuating Midgar isn't an easy task... things go wrong... sometimes very wrong. But there are always breaks from the hardships... holding Vincent's hand, for instance.


**Cloaked**

A/N: Because I don't need a reason for some VincentxYuffie lovin'- it's enough love on its own. I LOVE THIS PAIRING. And I'm finally getting a Final Fantasy fic out there. I worked far too long on this and neglected things I should've been doing! So please! Tell me what you think of it!

Dedicated to: Ruupi. You'll all see why if you read to the end of story. And even if you don't read it all, please look to the end and follow the link ;D

XxXxXxX

Yuffie rubbed the bare skin of her stomach, trying to warm her skin against the bitterly cold fangs of the wind and throwing a look of envy and contempt to her stoic companion, impervious against the cold whilst shrouded in folds of red. Apparently also impervious to looks of contempt... or perhaps just apathetic to them. He seemed apathetic to most things, to be fair.

**  
**It had been a long and certainly arduous day for Yuffie Kisaragi and Vincent Valentine. Their help had been enlisted in evacuating the slums of the already battered Midgar and the task had absolutely no ease or joy in it. The only relief was knowing they were leading to people to safety... maybe saving lives.

Still... even though Meteor was a clear and almost beautiful threat looming in the skies, some people refused to leave their meagre possessions and battered dwellings. It was part of the pair's job to try and convince them of the need to flee. Vincent could understand their reluctance to leave it all behind though. No matter what the state of this city was; it was home to these people. Midgar was a city with many problems, definitely far from perfect. But even small houses composed mostly of corrugated iron and dirt floors were home to families here. Houses without windows, houses without doors were still homes. The city was home to memories.

It had been a heart-wrenching job today as the storm created by Meteor got worse and worse and made the situation dire. People were forced to leave everything they had and Vincent who had seen many things in his time, had to turn a blind eye to it. He ignored the tears and the protests. Leading people to safety was the most important thing. As many people as possible before it was too late. Yet a strong mission-statement did not distract from the depressing nature of the tasks; far from it. It was never easy to maintain a detached exterior when young women cried, refusing to leave the houses they were born in.

What's more, that one little annoying ninja who was always tagging along had tagged along with him again. She refused to travel alone or with anyone else and all day... _all day _she'd been making the task a lot more difficult for Vincent. Granted, the temperature had dropped considerably and the rain, wind and hail was battering the people ambling slowly out of their city, carrying whatever they could- but Vincent really wished Yuffie would stop asking for his cloak!

"Nene Vince- gimme your cloak!" Yuffie tugged on the thick red material _again_, as Vincent peered into a little shack, checking there was no one in there. Just a scruffy little dog, looking lost and slightly forlorn.

Not one to mince his words, or often use them at all Vincent just shook his head. He didn't bother to turn as he did this especially with her insisting on that horrible nickname. He just moved on to the next shack, opening the door and peering around. No one inside. This area was quiet other than the howling wind and the echoing of their footsteps.

"Why not?" Yuffie's voice too was a constant, often cutting into his thoughts and the creepy silence that was lurking in the shadows. Midgar had become a ghost town being ravaged by nightmarish storms. It would look now to any spectator like a good scene from a horror movie. And the feeling you got whilst walking through the streets there was the same feeling that a particularly good horror movie gave you when it's quiet in the dark.

"Be quiet please," Vincent cut back, his voice always deep and gentle, but unignorable.

"But what if I'm cold?" Yuffie was doing her best to get his attention, annoyed that he was always so pragmatic about things. The complete opposite of her- adorable, partial to silliness and as zealous as they come. She was jumping up onto rooftops and scouting around from there, running circles around him- generally being far too cheery for a situation such as this. And always with that grin. He wondered, glancing at her when he knew she couldn't see him, why she was smiling when her world was probably about to end. But no time for such considerations-

"Then you are cold," he replied, taking long strides down the narrow streets, hoping somehow he could somehow unload Yuffie on one of the Turks so he could go about the rest of the job that required enough of his mind along and in peace.

"Aren'tcha going to be all chivalrous and offer the damsel in distress your cloak?"

He ignored her this time, changing the direction of the conversation to what it really should be. "This area appears to be clear, do you agree?"

Direction successfully changed. Pouncing onto a tin roof like a cat, Yuffie ignored the loud clang she made and looked left to right, pretending to shade her eyes even though the sky was the colour of dark and dirty dishwater with the exception of the looming Meteor. Really, she was using her other finely tuned senses and trying to hear if there was anyone around.

"Clear!" she yelled down to Vincent, waving her arm frantically as lightning illuminated her and the wind whipped around her.

"Understood. Let's move on." He was saying the bare minimum as usual and striding quickly. Of course he would only share his thoughts with himself and currently he was bothered. This city bothered him, he had many memories here. The memories bothered and plagued him. But it was the bad that outweighed the good- and soon it seemed Midgar was destined to be obliterated. No longer would it stand to remind him of his past here.

It was getting darker and darker in the streets and the storms were getting worse, not better. They were thankful for the rain, which had put out earlier fires that burnt around the city. At least then it was warm though. Thunder rumbled almost constantly as they moved onto the next street, heading towards the location of the Turks and the bulk of Midgar's citizens, migrating to safety like a herd of animals heading South for the Winter. The city was almost clear- this was a final check to ensure the city was _completely_ clear.

"So why can't I wear your cloak, eh? Is it like a fashion statement or something?"

Vincent sighed flicking his gaze up to Meteor for what seemed like the millionth time that day. His voice was devoid of expression when he replied, "No. It's not."

"Then why can't I wear it?"

"Because I am currently wearing it."

"But don'tcha think it would look good on me?" Yuffie struck a little pose, hands on hips, lips pouting.

The man in red was saved from answering this question (not that he would've anyway) when a very foreign noise cut into their conversation. It was a shocking and unexpected noise that caused the pair to look at one another, and then cease to move as they strained to hear the sound once more.

"Is that a baby crying?" The ninja asked softly, moving closer to Vincent- it was almost eerie, hearing that when the city seemed so empty.

They once again heard the mewling but muffled sound from nearby. It was unmistakeable. A baby's cry. Thin and wailing.

"I thought everyone was gone from this area." Yuffie looked puzzled and mildly frightened. She thought about grabbing onto Vincent's cloak again- but he always carried and air of 'look but don't touch' about him that she intended to keep to... for now.

"Apparently we have overlooked someone." The crying continued as Vincent spoke. "Come on, we have to find it."

The storm's ferocity only continued, worsening and tearing up fences and roofs as if they were as light as children's toys. The clangs and clunks, howling wind and growls of thunder almost drowned out the infantile plea for help, but the pair searched relentlessly through the dwellings around them, through the rubble. But the crying continued, echoing all around the empty slums.

Vincent and Yuffie came together again. It was taking too long and all they had to reply on was the noise to possibly save an infant's life. If it stopped- it would become many many times more difficult to find the little bundle.

"Where is it?" Yuffie's voice was lowered, as if in reverence for something or someone. She looked concerned and slightly spooked now. The look didn't suit her warm eyes and youthful glow- but this was serious matter- a baby alone in a city that was about to be obliterated. There was only one hope for Midgar... and indeed, the whole Planet. And it was so slight that there was nothing more to do than flee.

"Where haven't we checked?" Vincent asked.

Putting a finger to her mouth, Yuffie turned in a circle and pointed to a tumble down house, the door banging open and shut, the windows shattered.

"That one!"

Giving one small nod of his head, Vincent strode to the house and stepped inside. It was like someone had let a herd of bulls loose in there. Furniture was strewn everywhere and glass littered rugs that covered the dirt that served for floors. The wallpaper was ripped and peeling, looking like great beasts had torn it with their claws. Even worse- the roof was leaking terribly.

The baby was definitely in here though. The cries were loud and clear and they led Vincent over a torn teddy bear to a pile of old curtains. He lifted one and blinked his crimson eyes as he saw the baby, red in the face and bawling for it's little life. It was a little girl with a thick shock of blonde hair. Cold and blue and thin. Obviously not in good shape.

All he could do was stare for a few moments. His mind boggled. How could someone have left their child behind? Even in haste, who would do that? He took a breath and released it slowly, almost loathe to pick her up. But he reminded himself that his job was to evacuate the citizens of Midgar and the small though the infant was, it was just as much a citizen as any adult. She deserved his help and it was his duty to give it to her.

Considering this, he used a torn piece of curtain as a blanket and scooped up the tiny, wailing bundle to wrap it in the soft folds of his cloak. At least he could give it warmth. Or try to anyway.

As he walked out he heard a clamour in one of the other shacks and more debris flying at an alarming rate out of the door of the dwelling. An obvious consequence of Yuffie's rummagings. She was picking through the junk in the house with her shuriken and coming up with nothing. There was suddenly a loud and very rude exclamation as a gust of wind shook the fence that held up the little house so violently that the room Yuffie was in vibrated with it and creaked in a horrible way that reminded Vincent of crows screeching.

"It's not in here Vince!" she called, swearing again and taking a last fleeting scan of the absolutely chaotic room. "But it sounds closer!"

Even over the anger of the storm, Vincent did not need to raise his deep and pleasant voice to be heard. "I found her."

As Yuffie popped her head around the door of the shack her mouth formed a little 'o' at the sight that greeted her. She bounded out once again to Vincent's side and stood on her tiptoes to get a good look at the baby in his arms. The very fact that this undead and very stoic former-Turk was holding a defenceless little baby was odd enough. The sight definitely could've sent the young ninja into peals of laughter, despite the grave situation.

"So how come she gets the cloak and I don't?" 

It was becoming a sort of mantra just to ignore whatever Yuffie asked him and set the path of conversation back to where it should be. "Touch her cheek and check her temperature. I think she's cold." Vincent would've done it himself- but was hindered by the fact he had one leather glove and well- a claw.

Nodding, Yuffie slung her shuriken on her back and rested her fingertips on the cheek of the still bawling baby. She'd usually ignore any order Vincent gave her, but thought this one might be worth following. As she felt the ice-reminiscent skin she withdrew immediately and looked seriously up at Vincent. "She's freezing!" 

"Can you heal?"

Yuffie shook her head. "And I didn't bring any cure materia with me!"

"I cannot heal either. This is a dilemma. It will be impossible to find anyone who can when everyone is now evacuating." Concern creased Vincent's brow.

"We'll have to find a healer or the baby's mother or something soon, Vince. She's going blue."

She received a nod of agreement and they immediately started out once more. As soon as they began moving again, the baby quietened down too. It no longer cried, but just whimpered in a tiny little voice that seemed to have run out of energy. Vincent couldn't take his eyes from the little face and Yuffie stayed close so she could too. She even made sure that Vincent's cloak was safely tucked around the little baby and babbled non-stop in a babyish voice about their friends Tifa and Cloud and how they were going to save the Planet.

It was almost comforting, Vincent found himself thinking after ten minutes of walking through more ghostly slums, empty and foreboding. Her voice, although high and irritating, gave him somewhere to rest his attention whilst he still scouted around for more stragglers and worried for this baby's safety.

"What do you think it's called?" Yuffie finally addressed him and he suddenly realised she'd been leaning on his arm without him even noticing it. It didn't seem like she'd noticed it either- too absorbed with cooing over the baby. He looked from the ashen face of the baby to Yuffie and back again.

"I don't know."

"Kinda looks like Cloud, don'tcha think?" Yuffie bounced up and down on the balls of her feet. "Maybe he's been coming here lots and fathering illegitimate children!" She gave a sunny little chuckle and Vincent could've smiled- but didn't. Everything was too bleak to smile right now.

"Who knows?" he replied softly, growing more and more worried about the baby as time went on, she stopped making sound all together and it seemed she barely even breathed anymore after maybe half an hour of walking.

"She doesn't look good Vince..." Yuffie said, still holding his arm, a little tighter now he noted- but he didn't mention it. Having her that close didn't bother him... at all.

Another gruff nod of his head and no more until: "How far are we from the others?"

Letting go for a moment to nimbly scale a roof or two and peer down to where they were headed, Yuffie yelled down to him, over the wind and rain and thunder.

"Maybe twenty minutes! We should probably stop a while!"

Leaping back down to his side, Vincent nodded at her again. Neither were showing their feelings on their faces, masking it either under cold calm, or hopeful joy... nothing real, but personalities they could not let slip now.

"We'll find somewhere to stop, but only for a while." She repeated herself, giving him a rather evaluating stare which meant 'this city really isn't safe, and we both know it'. "But none of these houses really look, y'know, inhabitable."

She wrinkled her nose up, new mission in mind! _Find somewhere to take Vince and the kid for a little break! Somewhere nice! Well- as nice as possible in a city that's slowly being destroyed. Then maybe try and get in on a little of that cloak action!_

The rain was so harsh that she had to shield her face with her hand as they walked along the streets, Vincent tucked his cloak further around the baby and noticed that both Yuffie's skin and the skin on the baby were tinged an unhealthy blue. Not everyone was like him, wearing full leather and showing the least amount of skin possible. But it told him something: they had to stop being picky. He picked a house almost at random, gestured for Yuffie to follow him- and they entered.

It was one of the few houses with wooden floors. Ravaged, yes, but as they walked further into the dwelling, they found a couch and a low table still standing intact in a room stripped of everything else. The roof only leaked slightly, and the room was thankfully almost completely dry. There was a vase of old wrinkled roses tipped over on the floor, and a suitcase that was obviously left behind regurgitating out its contents onto the floor.

"Mou I'm starving!" Yuffie announced, plonking herself on the couch as if she were coming home from a normal day at school or something- not sitting on an abandoned couch, in an abandoned house, in an abandoned city.

Carefully, Vincent sat beside her, still with that crease of worry on his forehead. It was so damn cute that Yuffie felt like poking it, but she sobered up a little as she saw the baby again.

"What do we do?" she murmured.

Again, Vincent shook his head, the black hair somehow still shining in the almost crushing darkness of the house. This time he indicated how helpless he felt right now. The baby in his hands was quiet- barely breathing. It was still incredible to him that they could've found this baby alone in these horrible slums. What had happened, he wondered. Had something happened to its family? Had they been so rushed to leave that they forgot their daughter?

Or was she so sick that it wasn't worth taking her as well?

Amongst his troubled wonderings, the sounds of someone munching an apple reached his ears. He turned briefly, glancing at Yuffie who held a shiny red apple and was attacking almost sadistically- obviously just as starving as she said she was. He stared at her for a moment, shaking his head a little.

The tumultuous ninja seemed to read his thoughts and budged a little closer, holding the apple out to him. She talked for him often- filling all silences with almost aggressive nonsense. "Bought it along, thought I might get hungry. And I was right!" She grinned at him but received nothing more than blank red eyes and the crease between his brows deepening slightly as he turned to look at the little baby again. Other than her little chest rising and falling, she wasn't moving at all. Yuffie noticed too and budged even closer, until she was pressing against Vincent, and touching the baby's face once more. "She's so cold... what's wrong with her?"

Helpless, Vincent again shook his head. 

"Do you think she'll even make it?" The tone of Yuffie's voice had turned serious, and her eyes flicked from the face of the little baby to the half of a face not hidden by red cloak.

There was a pause and Vincent felt it, the intrinsic feeling, that no- no, this baby wasn't going to live. Her little life with slipping away every second he held her. The maelstrom of thoughts slowly sucked him into it and he placed his hand on the baby's stomach. The tiny thing was probably only as big as the shining claw bedecking his hand and arm.

The silence answered Yuffie's question for her.

The baby then opened her eyes, as if she knew there were two above her, watching over her intently. She reached up and closed her little fist around one of Vincent's claws. The sharp metal meant nothing to her and she clutched tightly, looking up at him. Her eyes were a perfect blue.

Then as sudden as the movement has been, the little body shook violently and then she was utterly utterly still. Her chest no longer moved with laboured breaths.

She was gone.

The man and girl above her could only stare as they immediately realised the fate of this little thing. So soon after they'd found her- thinking they'd saved her, she'd just died.

Many minutes passed, there was silence from inside the house, but outside the storm's fury would not be abated.

"It's unfair." The deep voice echoed out for the first time in a while, even if the Planet was fated to end- how was it fair that Vincent would live for all eternity and this little baby died so easily?

"Vince... come on." Yuffie tugged gently on his cloak, not wanting it this time- but wanting to move him. Just to get his eyes off the baby. The entranced stare scared her, the fixation. She wished he would vocalise it and stop being so damned stoic!

He just wouldn't move. Wouldn't listen. Wouldn't even look at her.

"Come on... we've got to bury her and get going. If we stay here-" she smiled weakly to herself, smoothing his cloak with her hand, more for comfort than anything. She could hear the thunder and lightning and wind and rain and hail... very aware that what she was saying was true. "We'll die." 

When he still wouldn't digress, she tugged harder, imploring him. She felt desperate. Where was Vincent's strength that she relied on? "Please Vincent. Please..."

He finally stood- always with so much majesty under all that red, black and gold. It relieved Yuffie to see him stand tall again, and cover the baby's head with the long end of the curtain. Like he was accepting it. It was another blow to him, though, and he was taking it with that same saturnine exterior- unflinching, unchanging. But there was something to distract her, they walked from the house and the question seemed to rise up between them, hair and clothes whipping around in the storm.

The question was: how do they bury her?

But Yuffie seemed determined to do this, and with a firm nod to herself, she'd bounced off somewhere again, looking for something likely to dig with. As she disappeared, Vincent allowed himself the sigh he wouldn't let out before, feeling the weight of that little girl in his conscience and in his arms.

Presently, Yuffie returned, trying to smile at him and holding a very lethal looking scrap piece of iron.

"I'll dig with this, we just need to find somewhere to make a hole."

It was difficult- Midgar's earth was hard and unforgiving- not loose and fertile soil. In some places though, there were small plots behind houses where citizens had grown small crops of vegetables.

So Yuffie's next task after shooting a worried look at her companion, was to find a vegetable patch.

It took longer than expected, and by the time she got back, Vincent was soaked with rain, leaning against a graffitted brick wall. She was even colder, sniffling and sneezing- but triumphant in her discovery of all little garden nearby, growing flowering herbs that looked desolate and trampled- but hopeful all the same, amongst all this ruin and ruin to come.

She'd even dug the hole, being considerate and thinking of Vincent- knowing within her that somehow he'd taken this hard. She had smudges of dirt on her, but she didn't care at all. She made a grab for Vincent's hand, and gloved or not she found that he did not pull away. They walked along comfortably, like it was perfectly normal to be strolling in a terrifying storm, in the slums of an empty city, holding a dead baby. Yuffie was only considering Vincent- and what had so far transported him that he allowed her to lead him to the sheltered little grove by his hand. It made her warm, amongst it all. For that, she was grateful.

The hole Yuffie had dug was deep for ten minutes work.. perfect size for the little body which he knelt to lay in the earth, covering her up again. He wanted to stay, wanted to think, wanted to mark the grave, but he knew that they had to leave now. They had to leave, or they would need graves of their own.

He stood, dusted himself off as best he could and tried to stop seeing the eyes of that little baby- her tiny hand closed around his claw. Incredibly, as Yuffie smiled softly at him and started to walk away towards safety, he found himself reaching to take her hand again... wanting to have that contact that we would always always deny himself. He wanted it now... and maybe even needed it.

She didn't say a word, but she smiled. Holding Vincent's hand. Well! That might even be better than being given his cloak.

XxXxXxX

It had gotten darker, colder, wetter and more terrifying by the time they were on the right road out of Midgar to where the Turks and Midgar's citizens were camped for the night. It was late- all stars were obscured by the fiery embodiment of malice in the sky... but still Yuffie and Vincent walked hand in hand. The streets of houses had given way to high buildings and steel, abandoned cars, broken fences and dark alleyways. Even the vermin appeared to have moved on- no rats, stray cats and dogs or even insects could be seen or heard. There was only the immortal and the ninja... but soon...

_Scratch scratch._

Yuffie looked up from almost blissful thoughts.

Again. _Scratch, scratch._

"Vince- do you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

In place of an answer, Yuffie gave him a meaningful look and took her shuriken off her back, holding it at the ready. "Something's coming."

Vincent's hand broke away from Yuffie's immediately, and before he had the chance to feel the loss of it, his hand was at his gun, sensing the approaching danger also. The shadows appeared before the monsters did, tall menacing shapes up the wall.

Just as the pair were getting into battle stance, the monsters appeared. Two Behemoths, and a King Behemoth... huge with great jaws foaming as they growled and circled Yuffie and Vincent. 

Amazingly, despite exhaustion after the whole day's work, Yuffie grinned at Vincent and held up a thumb. She was ready for a battle. A battle would take some of the edge from the anguish- give her a task. Something to focus on. And if she was lucky, get Vincent's mind away from the low place it was in.

The two Behemoths then pounced, heads lowered and giant horns pointed at Yuffie. She leapt away, running along the wall, defying gravity and drawing them away. Laughing, she threw her shuriken at them with joyous energy and left Vincent to deal with the King Behemoth, tossing its head and advancing slowly.

With a nod to himself, Vincent spun and disappeared from sight- reappearing quite suddenly with gun in hand. He shot at the King Behemoth again and again and as it changed direction and leapt at him, coming with a second attack with its spined tail. The spikes slammed into the wall with a crash that made the brick crumble and Vincent only just managed to avoid it. He disappeared again, sprang off the wall, shooting all the while and listened to the sounds of Yuffie clashing against the two other monsters.

If anything could be said about her- she was definitely a damned good fighter. One of his favourite to fight with, just for her endless energy and determination.

The King Behemoth roared, its fur a dark moss green in the low light and tossed its head again. It was furious and craving Vincent's blood. Truly gigantic it was- towering over him... taller than some of the buildings even! But nothing could intimidate Vincent who cast fire on the King Behemoth and disappeared again... not giving the giant monster an inch.

It was weakening- he could tell. He shot it again and again... and dodged more and more as it desperately charged him. Shield protected him from one spell and with one last use of fire, the fight was over and the King Behemoth was done.

His breath wasn't even laboured as he leant against the wall and holstered his gun. The sounds of Yuffie's fight had ceased and he waited for her to come around the corner with that silly victorious grin on her face. He even found that he was looking forward to that... the image replaced that of the baby's face in his mind- a relief.

He waited still, thinking the behemoths had drawn her further away or she had decided to toy with them as she often did. But it was taking far too long. Yuffie was powerful now- Behemoths were not weak enemies, but she could definitely beat them with this amount of time.

"Yuffie?" Vincent began to walk and looked around. There was no reply and her figure was nowhere in sight. Something that was already paining him tightened in his chest. Where was she? "Answer me."

_Where is she?_

He walked quickly, following the path the other two behemoths had taken as he got distracted... and stopped in his tracks the moment it felt like his heart stopped in his chest. 

_No..._

"No..." he breathed. It couldn't be. It couldn't be her on the ground. It couldn't be her with her eyes closed and blood from an unknown wound flowing onto her stomach. Struck down by their finishing move perhaps? What did it matter anyway!

It couldn't be that she had fallen.

And yet- it was her. She _had _fallen.

"Yuffie..." The name so infrequently said was almost forbidden and bittersweet on his tongue as he looked at the scene and was at her side in an instant. But he couldn't touch her. He couldn't see her move. He had no Phoenix down and it certainly appeared that she would never get up again.

The brief, terrifying and ruthless thought palpitated through him as he looked down at her. Yuffie dead. Yuffie gone. Yuffie never smiling at him again. Never annoying him. Never talking non stop about unimportant things. Never asking for his cloak. Never breaking the barriers that no one else would and laying her hands on him in a way he could never admit comforted his heart. Never travelling with him. Never hindering missions. Never getting them into trouble.

No more Yuffie.

The thought was more than Vincent could bear. It turned to shards of ice that tore through his blood stream, paining him, welling up in his chest... making his breath come ragged. He stood, pacing, trying to stop the demon rising up within him... he had to be calm for her.

But he couldn't help it- the thoughts had gotten to him, changing his prerogative to one that was carnal and inexplicable. He paced more, around Yuffie, his cloak billowing, the rain and thunder providing a backdrop for his new mood.

She was gone?! What we would he do without her?! Who was he now he'd lost another?! Was he destined to lose everyone that he ever cared about?!

_Why couldn't it be me?!_

Vincent couldn't still his breathing- couldn't still his heart or those thoughts. The immediate grief turned to illogical rage, he couldn't touch her- he just took one more look at the prostrate body, her face gentle and sad then let another part of him take over.

His mind went blank- vision white, he didn't know what he was doing until he was done. The destruction around him was plain to see- even more debris- cracks in the walls... absolute pandemonium. He ignored it through, feeling his senses return to him- ice cold and terrifying. He looked back at that body on the ground and fell to his knees next to her, penitent before her... reaching out to touch her- fearing what would happen.

He almost jumped out of his skin as he reached for her and she gave a tiny cough, a dribble of blood escaping from the corner of her mouth. A sign of life! Hope... hope that she'd be okay and those horrible thoughts would not come true.

Lightning struck again, the many forks sketching across the sky looking like the branches of a tree in winter. The rain turned to hail, great huge stones for several moments, then quickly turned back again... the water lashing upon the pair with more fury than ever.

It was time to leave, and there was no way- no way in hell Vincent was going to let the life his little ninja was hanging onto run out. He stood, scooping her up and holding the limp and almost lifeless Yuffie in his arms as she lolled against his neck and latched onto his chest with the last of her strength.

She was alive. That's all he cared about- all he could hold onto. And all he wanted was to get her out of there and keep her that way.

XxXxXxX

Vincent was relieved to be out of Midgar at the little settlement where everyone else was, safe despite the hell in the minds of most of the citizens. He was in a little tent made of stained canvas, barely sheltering him, the unconscious Yuffie and the healer he'd found from the torrential rain. The matronly healer was applying the last bandage onto a huge gash on Yuffie's stomach. To treat the wound, the healer had had to remove Yuffie's top and tried to insist that Vincent leave, but he refused, and it seemed most futile to argue with a tall, intimidating man who was literally twice her size.

So he watched, stony silent as the treatment went on. Potions were used and her stomach was wrapped with a torn white shirt- no more medical supplies were on hand at such a desperate time.

"She's done, Mr. Valentine."

Vincent gave a very small nod of thanks, eyes fixed on Yuffie.

"I have to tend to some others now- but I'll be back soon once I've found somewhere for you two to rest for the night. Here is not perfect for her to recooperate."

"Thank you," Vincent said gently. "You are too kind."

The healer bowed her head. "You two have done much for us, we can only return the favour now." She smiled, and then pulled a hood over her head, preparing to go back out of the makeshift tent into the storm.

She was watched by the crimson eyes behind her for a few moments, until they darted back to the little stretcher Yuffie was on and to Yuffie herself. She was breathing normally, looking slightly pained but peaceful.

He went to kneel beside her again, still feeling that knot in his chest- and straightening her blanket a little. He wanted so badly to see her eyes open again. After today he knew that he didn't want to lose anything else.

No.

He didn't want to lose _her. _

He cared so much more than he thought possible, or would ever show to anyone else. All anyone would know is what a loyal watchdog he was over Yuffie. But he wanted to be more than that... more than a watchdog. He wanted to touch her, feel that her skin was not cold like that little baby's. He'd not been able to save the infant but he saved Yuffie. Yuffie was okay. He had to be thankful for that today and watch over his friend.

Sighing, he settled down next to her, holding his hands under his cloak and ignoring those urges to touch and hold the little delicate thing. He didn't understand them... he'd never speak them and he'd _never_ act on them.

He'd closed his eyes like that and retreated into his thoughts and memories, resting. The storm was shut out but as soon as the slightest stirring came from the stretcher he was back in reality, anxious to see Yuffie's eyes again.

"... Vince?" a tiny croaky voice emerged from the blankets. "Is that you? What... happened?"

He said nothing, so happy to see her eyes open and her face animated that he could make no move. Not even a smile. Not a word. But she was okay. She was okay... he hadn't lost her- and if he could help it, he never never would.

"And where's my top?!"

XxXxXxX

The small village many of Midgar's citizens stopped at that night had turned into a new sort of shanty town, filled with little fires, some tents and many more people than it could handle. Despite their refusal of it, Yuffie and Vincent had been accommodated in one of the few rooms that the town could offer to the refugees.

After casting fire and making flames crackle merrily in the grate, Vincent was sitting calmly in a chair near the hearth looking out the window to meteor, ever there, ever moving closer. The injured but cosseted Yuffie had cosied herself on the remnants of an old rug chatting away about anything and everything without so much as a grunt of response from Vincent until she went quiet and tired herself out.

When she was finally asleep, Vincent waited a few moments and emerged from his self-appointed sentry duty. His post of a faded and torn old chair creaked as he removed himself from it to move closer to her. Looking at her- he had to admit to himself and only himself again, that even with her injured, sessile and hushed with sleep- her presence was comforting. Maybe part of the comfort was knowing she was alright. That earlier thoughts she was gone had not come to pass.

Curled up in a ball and quiet definitely suited her, though the blood-stained dressing on her stomach was an ugly reminder of what had happened. Little tiny breaths came from her mouth and her hair fell over her face. She looked so young and so trouble-free and Vincent treasured the moment for what it was, just watching her again. He hoped for her she would stay the way she was. Even though in his heart, he knew he could not pander to the thoughts that Yuffie was as innocent as all that.

Despite the trouble-free look he'd seen earlier in her eyes he knew that she was affected by this too- taking people from their homes, even to save them. Seeing that little baby lose it' life so easily and so unfairly and to be attacked on top of that. This was a place so close to her home of Wutai, it could just as easily be the people she knew and loved leaving their homes. It could be her. And if meteor hit, there was no way Wutai would be undamaged. Maybe the reason why she was trying to steal his cloak and irritate him and seem so carefree was to distract herself from the sights she'd seen and the things she was thinking. Maybe...

It was when Yuffie gave a small shiver that Vincent sighed, and began to finally unbuckle the cloak from his shoulders, taking off it's warm weight and covering her little body with it. The transition had started.

"I'm sorry, Yuffie," he whispered to her, smoothing her hair off her face and leaning down to give her a little kiss on the forehead. The contact he would all but deny himself and anyone else at any other time flowed from him easily now. He had to give himself this now, knowing that any time could be the last time. Ending the day like this.

She twitched a little as he lingered there and he found himself moving to her lips to kiss her there, wanting to hold her. But he didn't. He wouldn't. He moved away, back to sit in his tattered chair, cloakless and in deep thought. 

He would just have to wait and see what tomorrow would bring.

Yuffie turned over in her "sleep" and smiled to herself. She could overcome the horrors of her day and see the light. She only hoped Cloud would be able to stop Meteor- because maybe Vincent understood now... after that promising little display she _definitely_ wanted to see what tomorrow would bring.

And every day after that.

XxXxXxX

**A/N: There may be discrepancies in what I did with the Behemoths as I went off the Wikipedia article on them (my memory of them isn't good D:) so just let me know if they were totally wrong.**

VERY IMPORTANTLY THOUGH- My beautiful partner in crime Turntableaurora (Lucy, Lulu, Ruupi) is also on a Yuffentine high and drew a BEAUTIFUL picture to go with this story- it took her ages and it's incredible- so everybody who enjoyed, didn't enjoy, hated, liked or is impartial about this story go check it out at: 

**www (dot) deviantart (dot) com (slash) deviation (slash) 50903454 (slash)**

**  
And look at her other works too- she's fantastic!**


End file.
